Classic American West Coast Boxing

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White Elephant

They used to call it The Fabulous Forum. Located in Inglewood Ca, south of LA proper,it was the home of the basketball Lakers,The Kings Hockey team,and the big fights staged by promoter George Parnassus. The Forum was the jeweled venue for indoor Los Angeles sports.

The legendary Chick Hearn,the voice of the Lakers, called The Forum a "sports theater." As far as me and boxing goes I saw Jose Napoles fight Hedgemon Lewis there in 1971,Chucho Castillo and Lionel Rose go at it(they almost burned the place down after it was over,and recently Roman Gonzalez take on Carlos Cuadras a few years back.By the time I saw the Gonzalez fight the main indoor sports venue in the area was The Staple Center in downtown LA.

Today,The Forum has a new name.It's changed hands and with it has acquired new monikers. It's now The KIa Forum.Not much gong on there.Some concerts with second team artists and the wrestling matches;the 2028 Olympics have targeted the place for its gymnastics competitions. When I saw the Roman Gonzalez fight I didn't feel that electricity in the air that was always a trademark of a big fight at The Forum.There wasn't a sellout.The crowd seemed to be sitting on their hands. Cuadras was the Mexican but the aficianados didn't act like they cared. But I can't put the blame on the arena. If that fight would have been at The Staple Center the level of noise would have been the same.

Hollywood Park ,where the nags used to run, was next door to The Forum. They shut that down a ways back.They had a lot of lowlifes following the winners out to the parking lot and then rolling them. The neighborhood had risen to a Level Orange. It wasn't worth salvaging. So now the gambling degenerates will have to do with Santa Anita or head down to Del Mar.As far as The Forum goes I can't see it lasting much longer. Condominiums maybe.A mall. Can you spell "gentrification?

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There's No Boxing In Heaven

There's no boxing in heaven. I haven't been there but I bet there's no boxing inside those pearly gates. Baseball I can fathom. Basketball,tennis,golf,ping pong;I can see that happening. But boxing? No way.

A fighter cuts another fighter's eye.What does he do? He punches at that eye to open it up more make and spew more bleed.Does he think he might blind the other guy?It might cross his mind but he wants to win the fight.It's not against the rules.if he hits him below the belt he might get disqualified but to punch at a cut eye is good business.There's no second guessing.And how about the fighter who winds up with brain damage?Well,he was a warrior. Now what is God thinking about that? It's sinful.Someone getting paid to hurt another man.And Jesus threw the money lenders out of the temple?

I can see why a lot of people,especially women,wonder what someone gets out of watching a boxing match.Is it because he's living through another guy's efforts that he just dreams about?You know, the Walter Mitty type. i can understand why a guy turns to boxing.It's a poor man's out.It's not that he wants to be macho necessarily. He wants to make some big money. He's not afraid of fighting.He's probably done enough of that in the back alley so might as well get paid for it.

But it's the fan I wonder about. Why does he get a charge out of seeing two guys knock each other's brains out?So you're now saying to yourself what is this guy talking about. Everyday he writes about boxing and how he's been around boxing and knows these fighters and used to work out in the gym with the fighters ,and now he's bum rapping the sport. Well,that's a good question.I'm still trying to figure it out myself.

BTW:I got 3 to 1 on Ramirez so I put a C note o him at the sports book to win anyway he can.I hope he kicks the s--t out of Biviol.


You can bet their fathers put them up to it

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The Dumb Of The Irish

When I was a kid the argument on the playground was who is the better centerfielder Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays? We'd go round and round with that one with no one being able to persuade the other to change his point of view.

I don't know. Today at on the barstool it might be posed,as far as boxing is concerned,"Who would win between Muhammad Ali or Joe Louis?"Of course we're talking about both boys in their primes-when Ali had his legs and Joe had his hair. I'm not going to give you my take,and I don't want to offer any others.This hypothetical stuff is for the birds anyway. No one is going to change their minds.

But when I think of that mythical matchup I always weigh into consideration the first fight with Joe Louis and Billy Conn.Paint Add on 20 pounds to Conn and you have similarity. Conn's footwork in that fight was beffuddling The Brown Bomber to say the least.Joe would get set, and then Billy would slip away. He'd dart from side to side,in and out,and bring a flurry of punches with him when he got close. I never saw Louis, in a fight, where he was running with his punches and was so off balance.He was getting beaten to the punch and slapped around something silly.

As the fight moved into the later rounds it was becoming apparent that if Louis couldn't solve the problem he was going to lose his title. In the 10th round Conn slipped backing into the ropes,his hands at his side.Louis paused and let Billy regain his poise. You can hear on the live broadcast the crowd applaud.(BTW:this is Don Dunphy's first try decribing the blow by blow on the radio.He's excelent.A much better broadcaster than when he moved to TV)The boys then touched gloves. For me it's one of the greatest gestures shown in the ring.Here Louis is a few rounds away from losing his title and he let's Conn off the hook.

It's important to note that the crowd at the Polo Grounds was behind Billy.He was the underdog and he was white yet it wasn't that the negro Louis was an uppity Jack Johnson type. I mean what's wrong for a white guy to pull for a white guy? You know Harlem was rooting for Joe.Besides,just about al those seats at the Polo Grounds had white behinds sitting in those chairs.

Well,you know the story by now. Instead of Conn playing it safe and box like he'd been doing, he told his corner he was going for the KO. When they interviewed him in the dressing room he said something to the effect "What's it like to be Irish and not be dumb?";all with a dejected smile on his face.

I wonder if Jerry Quarry was related to Billy Conn?Well,at least in heart.I don't know about the dumb part.



The Conn clan reacting to Billy going down to Joe Louis

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Take Off The Stupid Cowboy Hat

I want to get this out of the way. I told you about how I thought this "Zurdo" Ramirez had a good shot of beating Dmitri Bivol and that I had put down a hundred dollars at 3 to 1 on Ramirez.Ramirez lost the fight and I lost the bet but I'm not much of a risk taker when gambling so I never lose more than I can afford to lose.

I said I was going down to Tijuana to watch the fight for free.When I arrived at my usual spot,The Hotel Nelson on the corner of 1st and Revolution, all the TV's were tuned to the World Series game.I asked the waitress if they were going to show the fight and she said yes.Well,the info I got said the main event was going to start around 8:30. It started getting close to that time and I didn't see anyone make a move to switch channels. I said the hell with this and got up and made up my mind to go to the sports book down in the Coahuila that was three blocks away.They'd have it for sure.

I talk about this Coahuila being the red light district of TJ but I hadn't been there in a while.The last time I was there was when Mayweather beat Berto to wach it on the tube.I went to the Hong Kong Bar that's supplanted the Adelita as the numero uno place to get laid.(BTW;The Coahuila is named after the street where the red light district is located).I was a good boy and didn't give in to temptation and just watched the fight that night.

So here I was back in this den of iniquity to watch another fight.You should have seen me.I was wearing my "I Love Tijuana" sweatshirt, shorts,and a pair of crocs. Because of my two new hips I got last year I was walking like I had a load of s--t in my pants.As I passed all the girls standing outside the cantinas I was too embarrassed to look any of them in the eye.They must have thought that I was a weirdo and they weren't far off the mark. I'll tell you one thing,my dick was a limp noodle.All I wanted to do is watch that fight.

I slowly climbed up the stairs to the sports book and when I got to the top I asked the security guard if they were gong to show the fight.
"It's over,"he said with a scowl on his face. "That pinchi Zurdo is a gallina.He no want to fight.We are all pissed off at this guy."
I was taken aback.
"I thouht the fight started at eight thirty."
"They fight over there so the fight begin early.It's over.That Zurdo is a galiina.He no want to fight.He got scared."
The security guard then scrunched his shoulders and began waving his arounds around.
"Zurdo he fight like a maricon,"he ranted on.
"Was it a knockout?"
"No.A decision.We all very mad at this guy.You can watch it on the internet."

So I drove back across the border and when I got home I turned on the computer and clicked onto YouTube.They had the "highlights" of the fight.Well, if those were the highlights I wonder what the rest of the fight was like.This Ramirez traveled half way around the world to get the s--t kicked out of him. He looked like a puss.

But what added to this farce was when they announced the decision,There's Ramirez standing beside the referee and Bivol.Ramirez has on his tri color trunks and he's wearing a cowboy hat(Mexicans call it a Tejana)Ramirez's head is down as they're reading the scores.He was hiding his face.I think he had on the hat to help hide it.A cowboy hat,a macho symbol,on this gallina.You just got your as kicked like a father beating his son.Take it off dude and put on a bonnet.


La gallina,Zurdo Ramirez

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https://www.efootage.com/videos/74831/i ... orts-stars

By Invitation Only

The above video shows a gathering of athletes selected by then president Dwight Eisenhower in 1953 to help participate in a celebrity golf tournament for charities. 43 athletes were asked to attend. No black athletes got an invite. Joe D got one but Jackie Robinson sat on the bench.Rocky Marciano was in the ring but Joe Louis had to read about it in the papers.

When one of Marciano's paisans saw the picture of The Rock with the president and The Yankee Clipper he remarked to Marciano,"I suppose you think you're hot stuff now that you got your picture taken with Joe DiMaggio."Kinda' funny.

But think about it. Imagine today the president inviting 43 athletes to the White House and not sending an invitation to any black athletes? But to take it a step further. Imagine the president sending 43 invitations including black athletes and not one brother showing up?Donald Trump must have felt like s--t.I wonder if Kanye West played any ball?


An exclusive club

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Hands Of The Son

I was looking at that photo of Marcino,DiMaggio,and Eisenhower and I remembered something Marciano's mother once said. She commented saying it was her son's hands that made him strong.She said that her son inherited his massive hands from his father.Looking at that photo you can bet that if he hit with those hands you were in trouble.

I was going to put this up on Mother's Day.Every time I see this it brings me back to the Italian neighborhood on the southwest in Chicago when I was a boy. It's priceless. Pasqualina Marciano talking about her deceased son Rocky. "I know my son is gonna' win but I worry because The other fighter had a mother too."

Better than any of those Godfather movies.Excuse me as I go for a Kleenex.

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Get Joe Louis Time

After Rocky Marciano knocked out Joe Louis in pathetic fashion it was now time to hit him again.The government was hounding him for owing back taxes anyway.Now it was time to jump on the n----r pile.John Roxborough,Louis' black manager,convinced his charge that white managers ,who took control of their colored fighters, didn't have their interests at heart.It was make a fast buck, and then when they were washed up, kick them to the curb.But where was Roxborough when it came to schooling Louis on the wisdom of handling his money?Louis' two fights while he was in the army he donated his winnings to charity.And where was Uncle Mike Jacobs,the matchmaker at The Garden? Joe could have listened to Uncle Remus and gotten better financial advice.

When Louis came back to the ring to fight Marciano it was the only thing he could think of to make a quick score to try to pay back another nasty uncle-Sam.Later there would be wrestling where now everyone could laugh at him in public ,or at least not take him seriously.Some big lug of an opponent jumped on Louis during one of their sketches and damaged his heart. You can bet Louis payed his own doctor bills for that one.

The only solace he could find was in the black community but it wasn't a safe haven all the time. The lawyers convinced his wife Marva that she really could make a go of it in show biz, and with the help of what they could pare from what Joe had left in his bank account along with the divorce papers she could become another Dorothy Dandridge. I don't even know what Marva Louis looked like.

While Max Schmeling was made the main distributor of that American symbol ,Coca Cola,in the new Germany,Joe was still in court with the country that helped Hitler put a gun to his head on that old tax beef.

I told you how I saw, on the front steps of Caesars Palace,Louis all deked out in his leisure cowboy duds and ten gallon hat. He was there to help bring in the customers. Was it Ash Resnick or Frank Sinatra that gave him a little spending money?They both took credit for it.Too bad either one of them could have been his corner before Louis was donating his money away thinking it was the right thing to do.

Joe Louis after the dance was over

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Joe Louis Was A Fighting Man



The hardest puncher I ever saw.

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A Horse Of A Different Color

Yesterday voters in California overwhelmingly rejected two propositions on the ballot that would legalize sports betting.I figured that would happen. The people say they don't like gambling but it happens anyway. There are Indian casinos on the reservations that have slot machines and poker(7 stud) and bingo,but I guess betting on who's gonna' win the Super Bowl is bad.There was also worry that kids would grab their smart phones and bet their money they made at McDonalds.

But that's typical of California.They want everyone to think there's a moral compass in place while just bout anyone 21 years or older can by an AR 15.Every burg has their massage parlors and I don't know of anyone who goes there to get a massage unless the rubbing also includes the "happy ending." You can go to one of those marijuana outlets and pay a king's ransom for an ounce of pot. If you've got a pain somewhere or feel the blues the HMO's are more than willing to get you on some kind of drug.But then this is to help you, not to get you string out. The drinking age is 21 but that never stops anyone under that number from getting someone to buy him booze.

In Mexico(Tijuana for example) it's more out in the open. The city has it's red light district that's controlled by the police of all people. You can go to the sports book and bet on everything from Jai Alai games to horseracing in Australia.The drinking age is 18 and the local high school kids in San Diego are no strangers. But marijuana is against the law ,but there's always the corner farmacia where you can buy steroids and synthetic morphine without a doctor's prescription.

When I was coaching American football in Tijuana I scheduled a game with a high school team from Orange county.Their coach pressed on me that he wanted to se the school where I coached before we settled on the matter.
"I want to make sure it's not some sort of prison,"he said.
I didn't openly take offense because it was difficult to get a team on the U.S. side to play us. California rules said that no California teams could play south of the border; Insurance implications I guess.

Well, I met this coach on the U.S. side and we drove in my car across the border.We didn't get 20 feet into Mexico when this guy spots a woman walkig down the street, and then turns to me.
"Is that a whore?"he asked.

Like I tried to imply,if you keep a facade of decency you can push the envelope and think that any gal walking down the street in Tijuana is a whore.To tell the truth I think this guy really didn't want to see the school but just get laid.


The infamous Adelita where at night you see more gringos wanting to get laid than anyone else. They even have their own shuttle that will pick you up at the border and drive you to the door.

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Maybe It's About Time

Maybe it's about time that I give up on boxing.The way I've been behaving I think I've already let go of the rope. Boxing is the only sport I can think of where the quality is eroding whereas with the other sports the class is getting classier. The athletes are better in baseball,basketball,American football,the rest of the worlds' football,tennis,golf,surfing-go ahead you name it. The athlete is better and so is the game.

There are some exceptions in boxing. Terence Crawford is the real deal but the matchmakers have stuck a dagger into his back by not having him in the ring with another notable,Errol Spence. While the "Z" generation wades to the forefront buying PPV fights their interest is with the UFC.Boxing offers very little to offset this absorption. Canelo has about punched himself out.The best heavyweights wouldn't pass muster in the 70's. With all the different boxing organizations , with their watered down champions controlled by selfish promoters who only promote their self interests, dilutes anything that's left of credence.

I stay on the "history" forum because that's where boxing was in it's golden era. Perhaps it wasn't thought of as that back then, but it's kinda' like movie actors. The stars today are no match for the pimple faced screwballs of the cinema today. Same thing with the singers and what they sing. Cole Porter and George Gershwin have evaporated and been replaced with gangsta' rap noise. Sinatra and Ella have given way to thugs with tags like 21 Black and Cardi B And whoever thought MIchael Jackson was a better hoofer than Fred Astaire?

I don't like UFC fighting.I never have and never will. It's like all that music and acting I talked about.It lacks aesthetics. Good boxing is art. UFC is chicken s--t fighting. But in the end a chicken s--t fighter will conquer the artful boxer. It always will be that way. Imagine if they had let that big Japanese dude grab ahold of Ali in their match ,or Conor McGregor to get a headlock on Pretty Boy? It would have been like a snake wrapping his coils around a field mouse.

But if I get in a fight with a guy who wants to kick me I'll grab a chair.


I remember hearing about this. Judo Gene LeBell(who recently passed away)against Milo Savage.Surprisingly Savage conceded to let LeBell grab him. Look at Savage at the end unconscious on the mat.Imagins Ali or Mayweather lying there.Wouldn't have done much for their legacies.

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A Boxing Ballet

I really meant it when I said a good boxing match is art. Not LIKE art,but ART period. But you have to have two good boys in the ring that know what they're doing for that to happen. And for me it has to be two good boxers.Not a boxer and a puncher or two punchers.The fight should also go the distance.Some fast examples:

The first Leonard /Hearns fight wasn't what I'd call high end art. Tommy, after he got rocked ,was very careful with Ray after that until he folded at the end.

In the first Leonard /Duran fight Roberto got off to a fast start and had Ray on shaky legs. The last few rounds Ray started figuring Roberto out but t was too late.

The four fights between Emile Griffith and Luis Rodriguez are classics. They all went the full 15. Talk about faced paced action with each fighter pulling out every trick they had in their books.

The best boxing match I ever saw in person was the time I went up to the Olympic Auditorium and saw Sugar Ramos fight another Ramos named Mando. The Olympic was packed to the doors that night.Sugar Ramos was now fighting as a lightweight.His power in that division didn't have the impact like it did when he had to make 125 pounds but he could still pop.The crowd curiously was behind Sugar although he was Cuban born.but Mando had a lot of cheers coming from his side too. I was pulling for Sugar Ramos.

You never knew with Mando. If he was in shape he was terrific.But Jackie McCoy always had a hard time tracking him down to get him in the gym.After watching this fight it was evident that Mando had followed Jackie's orders..Jackie McCoy said that Mando was the best talent he ever handled.Mando brought it all with him that night.

The referee ,John Thomas, had the pleasure and the closet view in the house as he glided around the ring and saw two Rembrandts paint a masterpiece.Just when I thought Sugar had gotten the edge Mando would take it away.Mando was tick faster and would counter with something that Sugar didn't see coming.Mando had out brush stroked Sugar. It was so very close, yet in my heart I thought Mando deserved the decision. He had his hand raised at the end.It was a split;John Thomas calling it a round better in Sugar's favor.

The crowd didn't go away mad. Let's face it I've never known anyone who ever walked out of The Louvre feel pissed off.


Mando Ramos

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The Two Cubans

In 1961 ,when Fidel Castro outlawed professional boxing, Cubans Jose Napoles and Ultiminio "Sugar "Ramos emigrated to Mexico to ply their trade.Both fighters were in heavy demand to be seen by the boxing public. Well schooled in their native Cuba with impressive amateur records and then turning pro with similar results ,both fighters knew they'd be tested by the local crop of Mexican fighters.In fact Napoles took a lot of time off from competing in order to strengthen his body for what would be awaiting him inside Mexican rings.

Both fighters got off to good starts,maybe Ramos a little better.Fighting as a featherweight. He was undefeated and was Ko ing just about all of his opponents. The champion of the division was the American ,Davey Moore.He'd been having a field day disposing of Mexican contenders like Kid Irapuato,Rudy Corona,Hilario Morales,and David cervantes.Moore was a great fighter who packed a good punch and didn't seem to have any sympathy about beating his neighbors below the border.

The showdown for a Moore /Ramos match was a natural.Though Ramos was undefeated Moore would be the favorite. They paired the boys in the LA Coliseum on the same card as another championship match between the holder,Emile Griffith, and Luis Rodriguez.By this time Ramos had been embraced by the Mexican aficianados.They wanted him to get Davey Moore.

The fight started off with Ramos willing to trade with Moore, and it looked like anyone's fight.After each round Ramos would touch gloves with Moore and bow as a sort of a salute. As the fight entered the 9th round it was evident that Rams had gained the upper hand. The crowd sensed that there would be a switch of the title going to Ramos. In the 10th frame there was an exchange that Moore couldn't deal with..Ramos caught him flush and Moore fell hitting the back his head on the bottom rope. He had lost his crown.

I remember the interview in the ring with Moore after it was over.He was upset with himself.He said he'd get even in the rematch.But there was no rematch.Moore later collapsed in the dressing room and lapsed into a coma.He died two days later.

Ramos now looked invincible. But he was going through some problems-physically and mentally. Davey Moore was the second fighter to have died in a match with Sugar Ramos. Now Ramos thought about giving up the sport.He went to counseling.He talked to a priest.And fighting at 125 pounds was becoming a chore.

There was another tough featherweight on the horizon,a Mexican national ,Vicente Saldivar. He would challenge Ramos for his title in Mexico City's bullring.Between making weight,the altitude,and the emotional stress(and the talent of Vicente Saldivar).Ramos took a beating.The crowd was behind their compadre from the start. From now on Sugar Ramos would get second billing to his other Cuban expatriot,Jose Napoles.

Jose Napoles was gaining momentum by the time George Parnassus showed him off in LA ,and then eventually matched him with the welterweight chsmp,Curtis Cokes. Cokes was a good fighter but Napoles was a great one. The Mexicans had Christened him "Mantequilla" by now because of his fluid style and that poker face with thebig bigote.Napoles was made to order for all that macho hyoe. He sang with the marichis.He liked to drink tequila,He began starring in movies.He married a Mexican gal. Even the president of the country interceded on his behalf to making him a citizen.That was a first.

There were two differences that separated Napoles' and Ramos' popularity with the Mexican public. One:there was no other Mexican welterweight that stood up to Napoles.When Sugar Ramos lost to Saldivar here was a peer who was a notch above him. Naturally Mexico went with their man.The other factor was that Napoles was natural for the cultural transition.He fit like a glove.

In the end you could say Napoles fell apart more than Ramos.Monzon humiliated him. Muniz ,in the their first fight, cut him to ribbons. And Stracey finished him off. But Jose got into the Hall on the first ballot. Monzon didn't. It took ten more years before Ramos made it.Goes to show you what charisma can get you.


Jose Napoles

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Riot

Angelo Dundee told the story of how he had Sugar Ramos to Mexico City to challenge Carlos Ortiz for his WBC lightweight title and a riot broke out.. It was one of those Mexican /Puerto Rican showdowns.Though Ramos was Cuban, he had relocated in Mexico after Castro banned pro boxing in Cuba,and was the fan favorite. They put the fight in the Mexico City bullring,the same venue where Ramos had lost the featherweight title earlier to Vicente Saldivar. Billy Conn was the third man in the ring.

Both men were action fighters and it was bound to be a good show.This time there was no doubt who the crowd was behind. When Ramos fought Saldivar, who was a home grown Mexican, the aficianados wanted their carnal to win. But this fight was totally different.The Mexican /Puerto Rican feud was red hot at the time and this match had all the signs of being a forest fire.

Having Conn as the referee was the condition forced on the promoters by Ortiz's people if the fight was going to be in Mexico. The action was fast paced as expected. Ortiz was the slicker boxer.I'd say both boys were evenly matched in the punch department.In the second round Ramos countered over the top of Ortiz's low left dropping the champ. Ortiz got to his feet right away and Conn gave him a mandatory eight count.It seemed kind of slow.Then in the 5th round Ortiz opened a cut above Ramos' eye.Without breaking stride Conn Immediately waved off the fight declaring Ortiz the winner.Then all hell broke loose. The police had a tough time from having the crowd lynching Ortiz and Conn in ring center. It took a long time for things to get under control. Later,the WBC decided the title still vacant accusing Conn of giving a slow count to Ortiz and thenstopping the fight prematurely.

Well,Dundee had gotten a taste of what it was like when the aficianados thought they got a bum deal.As far as Ortiz and Conn,they never set foot in Mexico again.


Carlos Ortiz at the World Boxing Hall Of Fame in Los Angeles.He arrived from New York with his wife and Gaspar Ortega and his better half.

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Compadres

By the time they were all here in the United States and Mexico by 1961 after Fidel Castro had banned pro boxing in his country,the Cuban born fighters who got their freedom were focusing their sights on championships. Kid Gavilan had already retired after a long and productive career and in the process of winning the welterweight title.Heavyweight contender Nino Valdez had also cleared out his locker in 1959;a top 10 fighter who should have gotten a crack at Marciano but a decision loss to Archie Moore put The Mongoose in the ring with The Rock instead. But younger fighters like Benny Paret,Luis Rodriguez,Jose Legra,Ultimino"Sugar" Ramos,and Jose Napoles were eager to display what they they had in order to win fame and glory and title belts and money.

I selected the above mentioned because they eventually succeeded in winning world titles.There were other good Cuban fighters like Doug Valliant,Florentino Fernandez,Angel Robinson Garcia,Jose Stable,and Baby Luis but they never quite got good enough to wear that championship belt.

Those fellas' in that first paragraph remained very close to each other.Affer leaving Cuba they never got in each other's way inside the ring. Luis Rodriguez had decisioned Benny Paret but that was back in the homeland. The lines were being drawn. Jose Legra was to make his mark as a featherweight. He was coaxed to Spain by anther former Cuban fighter Kid Tunero to try to prove his worth fighting in Europe."Sugar" Ramos also began fighting at 125 pounds the later moving up to lightweight. Benny Paret was sometimes a light weight then moving up to welterweight.Jose Napoles, back in the mid 60's a lightweight and junior welterweight. Luis Rodriguez,a welter,later going up to 160. But as close as these guys were in their fighting weights they never crossed paths in the ring.

After Benny Paret's death in the ring at the hands of Emile Griffith,Luis Rodriguez became the avenger of sorts. His four fights with Griffith,in my opinion,was the greatest exhibition of boxing between rivals I ever saw.We can round and round with this.I thought El Feo won 3 of the 4 instead of Emile getting the 75 percent. The fight in which Rodrigiuez finally got his hand raised in LA I thought he might have gotten the benefit of the doubt in the scoring.

When Luis Rodriguez was to fight Rafael Gutierrez in San Diego in a title eliminator for Nino Benvenuti's crown ,Jose Napoles was a constant visitor to his training camp lending support to his compadre.

When I finally caught up with Jose Napoles in Ciudad Juarez in 2014 he was sitting in front of his rented house in the barrio smoking a cigar and waving to the passers by I remember when he beat Emile Griffith.It was like they could close the book on it now. Jose won. It wasn't close. After the decision Jose put his arm around Emile and walked him to his corner.The only fighter that afternoon in my visit that Jose brought up on his own was "Sugar" Ramos. Jose still called him up on the telephone once a week.I sure would have liked to have listened to what they had to say. To only be a fly on the wall would have been marvelous.


Jose Napoles in his twilight enjoying a Cuban puro.

[dagosd2000]

Girls In The Gym

It used to be when you walked inside a boxing gym you felt a seriousness of direction. The fighter ,no matter what degree of proficiency,was giving it his all to see if a visiting promoter believed you could fill the bill on his upcoming boxing card.

The atmosphere was intense and sweaty and you could smell the sweat that had been ingrained in the leather and canvas all those years. It was that smell that helped Rocky Marciano to make up his mind that he had had enough of the sport.. Along with the financiers the matchmakers,trainers errand boys,hangers ons,and the curious were integral figures in these musty edifices. The mold on the walls in shower rooms with the drippy faucets,the slippery concrete floors,the clammy touch on everything,the strong odors cutting through the Clorox that made your eyes water was just a normal annoyance. You're a fighter not a dilettante. Fighters gear strewn around the ring.Towels on the floor.Hand wraps that need to be rolled up again. Headguards that were used and not put away. Finally someone has had enough.
"You better clean this mess up or I'm throwing it all out to the street!"

The rippity rippity sound of a fighter hitting the speed bag. The big thumping of slugging the heavy bag. The whir of skipping rope.
"TIme" yells the the trainer as the fighters practice their moves. "No,no no,Put your shoulder into it.You;re looping your punches. That's more like it.Don't let me have to tell you again.Move your head when you get inside.Don't pull back .Slip those punches and then come up swinging. That's more like it."

A cut opens up on the bridge of a nose. A clean towel is pressed against the skin with the head forced up until the bleeding stops.The crimson towel drops to the floor.
"You won't need any stitches but you're finished for today.Get a shower and make sure you put a bandage on it."

A heavyset guy with a wrinkled shirt steps inside the door and yells,"I need a middleweight for a 4 round prelim!"
The 160 pounders stop working and walk towards the hulking figure, and the others keep doing what they were doing not breaking stride.

It's almost surreal but it's not. It's unforgiving but that's the way fighting is. There's no sympathy shown. No one to hold one's hand. If you can't take it no one will try to talk you out of it.They've got themselvesto worry about.

Boxing is the sport that teaches y how to hurt another man. And now they let girls in the gym.


Jackie Nava,one of the most popular fighters in Tijuana,announced he retirement just recently.

[dagosd2000]

Rocky's World

Rocky Marciano was a restless man. He made a lot of money fighting(around 2 million dollars)and kept most of it away from his sneaky manager Al Weill although Weill chiseled Rocky out of supposedly 10 grand that was up front money for the Cockell fight in San Francisco. That just expediated matters for Marciano to make up his mind to retire and get aware from Weill.

Rocky hated working a normal job if he had to be on a regular schedule and punch a clock. He liked to get paid in cash up front and have it in his hands instead of putting away in banks. They say he liked to bury his money in the ground where nobody could find it. He did anything to make an extra buck. He refereed a lot of fights.He even reffed when he was still fighting.But his main source of post fight income was speaking engagemants.He didn't care what they wanted him to talk about as long as he got paid before he stepped up to the dais. 1500 smackers was the standard fee.Sometimes they'd go around the room passing the hat beforehand.The mob made sure he was taken care of.Let's face it,an Italian heavyweight champ who didn't have the last name,"Carnera."(Ask any Italian who was the greatest heavyweight and they'll all say "Marciano." Why "He never lost." Now if anyone chimes in with that he won his first pro fight and then went back to the amateurs and lost go take it to the Supreme Court)

As far as a family man he was seldom at home.He had girlfriends all over the place and his sexual appetite was asimpressive as his KO record.After he died in that plane crash (he didn't want to fork out money to take a commercial airliner instead boarding a single prop job)there was an emptiness. What was bothering him? Why was he so aloof?Was he happy? HIs family couldn't come up with an answer.His wife Barbara felt alone most of the time trying to raise the kids by herself.Because she wasn't Italian she kind of got the cold shoulder from Rocky's family. They never talked about her. His brother Peter shrugged his shoulders.He couldn't figure out his brother.

I remember that TV program he had after he hung up the gloves. It featured a past fight that he would comment on and then have a guest and they would talk about this and that. I guess that show couldn't supplant I Love Lucy and all those cowboy shows. But that show seemed to be his niche.

When they asked Rocky's mother what people should remember about her son she had to think a little.
"He was kind of rough but he loved the children,"she finally said.
Hell. If Rocky's mother didn't know who would? "KInd of rough". I wish she could have expounded on that.


Rocky

[dagosd2000]

Wishful Thinking

Rocky Marciano was restless after retiring from boxing. He wanted to do what he wanted but he didn't want to be confined to a single task. He'd mention that he was thinking of making a comeback but didn't act on those thoughts until Ingemar Johansson knocked out Floyd Patterson to win the heavyweight championship. Patterson was down 7 times from Ingo's Bingo the Toonder and Lightning right hand of his,the same weapon that nearly tore Eddie Machen's head off in their fight in Sweden.

Rocky fans we a little surprised that he wanted to go after Johansson instead of Patterson. It was Floyd who had the glass jaw. But Rocky had easier times with the bigger slower fighters than with the boxers like Charles,Walcott,and La Starza.Maybe he figured Patterson's hand speed would pose a problem at 37 years of age(1960).

Marciano went back to the gym and after 6 months gave up his thoughts of making a comeback. Physically and mentally it was too much for him to overcome.Give him credit for that.Sure,his wife Barbara didn't want him to fight again, but Rocky did what he wanted to do and if felt he could catch lightning in a bottle he would have fought again.

That make believe stunt with him and Ali really didn't show anything that might have happened if they had time machines back then. The "fighting " was filmed in something like 40 second intervals. There were two different endings. The American version had Ali knocking out The Rock.The European version had Marciano standing over Ali. Now who were you supposed to believe?Both men looked out of shape(Ali was in his mid banishment).He would return to the ring against Jerry Quarry in 1970 never looking like a floating butterfly or a stinging bee again. Marciano would be dead from a an airplane crash in 1969 a day before his 46th birthday. He was going home to celebrate the event with is family..

I'm glad Marciano never tried a comeback. Something would have happened like him losing for the first time. Then what would those dagos say when asked 'Who was the greatest heavyweight of all time?"

[dagosd2000]

Paying The Price

In 1861 Roger Maris broke Babe Roth's single season homerun record belting 61 four baggers after a head to head chase with Mickey Mantle until The MIck got sidelined at the end of the season with an injury. Wilt Chamberlain set an all time single season scoring record averaging 50.4 points a game. Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers won their first NFL championship on their way to establishing a dynasty. And Floyd Patterson was the heavyweight champion of the world.

It was a time when you could watch the World Series on TV for free,the NBA championship series on the tube gratis.and the NFL(and AFL)championship game without having to go down to the movie theater and pay. But if you wanted to watch the third in the trilogy of Floyd Patterson and Ingemar Jahansson you had o call up the neighborhood Bijou to see if there were anymore tickets left for 5 dollars. Boxing was becoming that sinking ship.

But you couldn't blame Floyd or Ingo for firing the torpedoes. It was the usual gang of slime balls that permeated boxing since the days when the negro slaves would have to get inside the ropes so the sporting public could bet on who would be the last man standing in that misnomer they called "Battle Royals." The promoters,managers,gamblers,bookies,gangsters;the unregulated creeps wearing the off the rack sports jackets and the trilbies covering their bald heads.

After Patterson left the arena with his fake beard and now a dark figure named Sonny was the new champ it was time for the networks to erase any free boxing off the TV .No more Saturday night fights or any day of the week.

Joe Louis said that Liston was the best heavyweight ever and no one really cared.There were no Sonny Liston fan clubs. He wasn't asked to be on The Tonight Show.The Frankenstein monster had more charm.Then this kid Cassius Clay came along.

I can't help but laugh a little. No one thought he had a chance to beat Liston except his mother and his brother.But he did kit.He did it twice. But you still had to pay to see it. I admit I did.

[dagosd2000]

The Big Bluffer



I always wondered what was the point of this picture? Liston was always trying to scare people. Oh,I know. In private he was really a jovial person and loved kids.Since when do casinos in Las Vegas let you in without wearing a shirt? I would have liked to have seen those cards. I bet he had nothing.



The real Sonny Liston not wanting to come out for the 7th round against Cassius Clay.

[dagosd2000]

After The Fall

After Sonny Liston lost the second fight with the now Muhammad Ali he became a sort of persona non grata.Both losses left questions.When Liston didn't want to answer the bell for the 7th round against Clay,he said that he had injured his arm that was already injured. The rematch with Ali left people scratching their heads.The first thing out of Ali's mouth in the locker room was ,"Was it a fix?"

After the second fight Liston went to Sweden and fought four times against a German and three African/American heavyweights ,all trial horses.When Ali was banished from fighting, because of his fight with the Selective Service Bureau, the World Boxing Association held a heavyweight tournament to determine a new champ. Joe Frazier was the champ in New York having beat Buster Mathis so Joe didn't get an invite. But the WBA didn't believe Sonny Liston warranted an invitation to the dance either.Of eight selections Liston's name didn't make the list.

LIstnn bounced around fighting non contenders in venues that weren't he biggest nor the best. A fight at the Olympic Auditorium;another in the bullring in Ciudad ,Mexico;He had a win streak going of 14. Was he in the mix for another title shot?There was talk.But then he fought another supposed stepping stone,Leotis Martin,in Las Vegas. Maybe with this win he could wipe the slate clean.

Liston dropped Martin with a heavy right hand in the 4th round.It looked liked the light at the end of the tunnel. But Martin was a resilient dude and that light was a freight train named after him. Martin hung in there and fought back.He stood up to Liston. No folding in him.In the 8th round he split Sonny's lip.blood poring. He also split Sonny's heart. LIston fell apart. Fighters had had split lips before and battled through, but Liston's reaction was fear. At the bell of round 9 Liston shuffled out of his corner. His face looked horrible. He stuck out his big jab.Martin countered over the top of it and nailed Sonny flush.He landed face first. They could have counted him out with a calendar.If you look at the replay it's interesting to note that while he's getting counted out he turns his face sideways on the mat. He had no thoughts about getting up.

LIston had one more fight left in him,:stopping a bleeding Chuck Wepner on cuts.With fighting behind him Liston went back to the sordid life of the underworld which he had never roamed that far from.His wife found him dead in their Las Vegas home after she returned from a trip.But the mystique didn't end.The coroner said he died of a heroin overdose.But was he murdered?And if so who murdered him? Drug dealers? The mob? They found a needle mark on his arm, but his wife said he was afraid of needles. I know this much; if you like heroin you use a needle to inject it into your arm. I couldn't just see a bunch of guys holding him down and slipping it up his rectum.


Sonny Liston ,a guest of the Kray brothers.

[dagosd2000]

Civil Disobedience

I rarely think of violent crime when I put it together with of jolly ol' England. I've traveled across the pond a few times and with exception of seeing a few Brits with a snootful and acting snotty I don't associate anything very bloody with a bloody crime in the UK.I mean anybody that has such a command of English can't be that bad. However, when I watch an English movie I admit I have to turn on the subtitles to catch their drift.I don't speak their language.

.There was that Jack the Ripper guy but they made so many movies about him that you're almost glad he got away with it. Then there was Professor Moriarty, but he was a real intellectual bloke, and besides I saw Basil Rathbone finally take him off the set (I think a couple of times)in one of those Sherlock Holmes' flicks.

But then the other day I posted a picture of the late Sonny Liston posing with the late and late Kray twins. Now those two were naughty. I read the book by John Pearson,"The Profession of Violence",and saw that movie ,"Legend" depicting the lives of those two and concluded that they were a bit barmy.(BTW:that Tom Hardy chap, who played the part of both twins, should have won an Academy Award).

In the end I think the Krays should have stuck to prizefighting.Between the two of them they were doing pretty well in the sport. Ron Kray,the nastier of the two,was undefeated before he traded his boxing gloves in for an icepick. I guess the Marquis of Queensbury rules were too confining..As for Sonny Liston sitting with them enjoying the festivities it seemed apropos.

Well mateys,I'll have something else to say later. Ta Ta, Cheerio.See ya' manana.

[dagosd2000]

Another Pretty Boy Floyd

Floyd Patterson had the quickest hands of any heavyweight of his time.Even when Cassius came along Floyd had faster hands, especially when it came to combination punching.And he could hit harder than Clay, but then a lot of fighters could.Clay had the faster jab. Floyd didn't have much of one,or ever use it much.. He kind of reminded me of Joe Frazier:bob and weave,moving his head. He threw better and faster combinations than Frazier.He liked to lead leaping in with his left hook like Joe.

Patterson never fought Frazier but he did get into the ring with Ali twice.The first fight was during Ali's pre banishment period when Ali was at his best.Fresh off two easy wins over Sonny Liston,Ali took on Patterson who was ranked the number one contender.Patterson had this thing about still calling Ali "Clay" and that just worked against him.Though Patterson had greater hand speed along with a greater wallop,he couldn't catch up with Ali. Ali's footwork and his unorthodox way of pulling straight back from punches was something Patterson, like all the others, couldn't cope with.

Ali was in command from the start and taunted Patterson. As the fight wore on and because of that calling him "Clay" crap.(It's his "Christian name" said Floyd. Yeah,but Ali wasn't a Christian anymore)it was evident that Patterson wasn't going to win. He began pulling up in the fight complaining of having sciatic nerve pain. I didn't feel sorry for him. The fight was eventually stopped. After that Patterson was no longer a number one contender.His only title shot later was a WBA fight for the crown with Jimmy Ellis in Sweden. Patterson lost a dull decision. He then was asked to participate in a WBA tournament to determine who would be that body's champ. He lost a controversial decision to Jerry Quarry. Patterson's last fight was against a post banishment Ali who was now a lot slower than he was before but Patterson had no more magic left. The bout was called because Floyd's face was a bloody mess.

The biggest difference between Ali and Patterson was that Ali never succumbed to the pressure,and he had a hell of a better chin. Floyd would sulk and mope and speak with his head down. I don't think he could tell a joke or even knew one. He was a psychiatrist's dream.His two fights with Liston put the heavyweight division at its nadir yet he spoke like he had this all encompassing wisdom but since I couldn't hear him I never knew what it was.

In the end he could have been a better fighter, but the most difficult opponent he could never conquer was himself.


Floyd Patterson

[dagosd2000]

Tne Unforgiving

I remember that first Ali/Patterson fight when Floyd began laboring because his back was giving him problems and Johnny Florio ,his trainer, between rounds, was trying to loosen him up by wrapping his arms around Patterson's middle lifting him up off his feet. They let the fight go on. Amazing! I mean this is a boxing match not a ping pong game.What was the referee thinking? The ring doc? Patterson's corner? In the mean time Ali is potshotting Patterson at will and taunting him because he had called him "Clay."

Well, they let the carnage continue until Patterson was having a near death experience in the 12th round and the massacre ceased which leads me to wonder how come Floyd folded so easily against Sonny Liston? Liston,in two fights,dispensed of Patterson in less than 4 minutes.He clubbed him around like the schoolyard bully picking his prey at recess. For the second fight Patterson brought a fake beard with him so when he left the arena no one would recognize him. I can't believe Patterson's corner was aware of what was inside that brown paper bag.If so why did they let him go into the ring?

I heard one of Patterson's sparring partners (Can't recall the name)say that in training camp they had practiced a strategy for Patterson to stay on the outside of Liston,not to get into clinches and let himself get manhandled,but that's exactly what Patterson did...He let Sonny grab him and pound him from every different angle.Fight over.

Funny how things work with boxing. Patterson was psyched out by Liston and folded. But against Ali he hung in there. I guess power was the deciding factor. Ali was super fast but not so powerful.Patterson didn't fear speed over strength. Ken Norton was the same way.He walked through Ali because he didn't fear what Ali could throw at him. But against George Foreman it was different. Norton swooned in 2 rounds.

I had a friend who was a pretty fair amateur heavyweight by the name of Gary Young who went to Arizona to train with some fighters out there.He told me he was having lunch with the fellas' when Zora Folley dropped in.At the table Folley remarked that when he fought Muhammad that he was so overwhelmed by his speed that he decided that finally when he got hit at the right time he'd just go to the canvas,and that's what happened.

Then there was Rocky Graziano who said that when he got hit he'd go "crazy" and grab his opponent by the throat and want to "kill him."

Wasn't that gal Joyce Brothers some sort of psychologist and was on that quiz show "the 64,000 Dollar Question"?She picked the category "Boxing."BTW:She won the 64 thousand but I remember she had I think Joe Louis,Jack Dempsey,and a few other fighters in inside the booth to help her with the answers .Psychologist?Boxing? Seem to go hand in hand.


Rocky Graziano

[bollocks]

It was sad reading years ago that Floyd was suffering from dementia/ alzheimers whilst he was head of the NY State Athletic Commission. When the issue of Aids was brought up he said he'd only just head of it, and that ould have been in the 90's

He always seemed a genuinely nice fellow who didn't fit the sterotypical boxer mould

[dagosd2000]

Swedish Schnapps

Today there's not much talk about Ingemar Johansson. Prior to his challenge of Floyd Patterson's heavyweight title not many Americans knew anything about him. He was the European champ but that was a time when European fighters, regardless of their records,were considered more like amateur fighters because of their upright stances and their European opponents.

Johansson had fought in the Helsinki Olympics in the finals against the giant African/American Ed Sanders and was so tentative to engage that the referee DQ'd the Swede. That was something that you don't put on your resume. Ingo then returned to Sweden where he fell into the mix of what was worth mentioning on the Continent.He made a sidetrip to Italy to KO some guy named Cavicchi to win the EBU title(I'm guessing if he hadn't stopped the Italian they would have robbed Johansson of the decision).This was in 1956. That victory went unnoticed over here.

Johansson remained undefeated stopping a vague Henry Cooper and then later halting Joe Erskine.Ingo was starting to percolate.Johansson was a busy fighter in the ring. He was straight up to fit the mold but his foot movement was constant.He worked his jab looking for the opportunity to follow up with his right hand.His right was a powerful punch,straight and true. He earned a remarkable KO percentage..

In the meantime Floyd Patterson as the world champ but the public was tired of him ducking the top three contenders:Sonny Liston,Zora Folley.and Eddie Machen.FLoyd was in there with Cut and Shoot,Lantern Jaw Joe,and the rookie Rademacher. PU!

Finally,there was a so called elimination fight put together between Machen and Johansson in Sweden. Everyone figured Eddie would finally get to be let out of the closet. But low and behold if Johansson's right hand put an end to any dreams of Machen fighting Floyd Patterson.It was brutal a knockout as ever seen, all inside the 1st round.

Well,now Ingo had to leave the cold weather and travel to New York to fight Patterson.He brought his girlfriend with him and she drew as much attention as Johansson.Well,Ingo shocked the world and Patterson in that 3rd round and now we had a foreigner as champ,the first since Carnera.

There was a rematch ,again in The Apple,and Floyd was the first ex heavyweight champ to regain the title. The rubber match was held in Miami and again Patterson won. Johansson returned to Sweden with his squeeze and stayed competitive. He finished his career never losing again.His last fight was against Brian London.There was some controversy. Johansson was in command but then in the last round London caught him and Ingo crashed to the canvas. He was badly shaken.But the bell saved him and he was awarded the decision. He then took stack of the situation and retired.

Johnasson only lost twice ,and that was to Patterson.I haven't concentrated much on that thread about the most powerful punchers and the three catergories(What's with the categories?) but I'd put Johansson's right hand right in their with Max Baer's. And Ingo's girlfriend? Right in there with Brigette Bardot. :lol

Ingo's girlfriend,Brigette.


A young Cassius Clay sparring with Johansson in Miami prior to the 3rd fight with Patterson. Clay looked lie the champ even though he had only a few fights under his belt.


Ingemar Johansson